🍵HANGING THE MOSS🌱
Just as people are beginning to take down their New Year decorations, a bundle of green appears in the tea room.
Known in English as ground pine, wolf’s-foot clubmoss and stag’s-horn clubmoss, 'hikage-no-kazura' (日陰蔓) will adorn the alcove for a few weeks. ImageImageImageImage
With the spread of Omicron, we've put our official Hatsugama (初釜 first tea ceremony of the year) on hold😑...but rather than feeling glum, we've been toasting the fresh year here in the office with Nijō Wakasaya's (二條若狭屋) 'New Year Amabie' (アマビエ~ニューイヤー~) 🥳🎉 ImageImageImageImage
Nijō Wakasaya's seasonal Amabie-themed sweets have been a constant delight throughout the pandemic.
➡️@616wakasaya
'New Year Amabie' mimics a kagami mochi (鏡餅)🍊🤣

A previous thread about the disease-deflecting 'deity' Amabie⬇️

#Japan #Amabie #和菓子 ImageImageImageImage
in the eaves
the remnants still cling...
blooming New Year's herbs
雨だれの名ごりおしさよ花わかな
-小林一茶.

Hikage-no-kazura is considered a symbol of strength and vitality...an apt display in this season, when thoughts turn to fresh beginnings.
Photo- ameblo.jp/nanakoarikawa/ ImageImageImageImage
The plant features in the story of Amaterasu (天照大神), the 'Sun Goddess', hiding away in the 'Heavenly Rock Cave'.
Her brother Susanoo (須佐之男), 'God of the Sea & Storms', attempted (unsuccessfully) to drag her out by ensnaring her long sleeves in hikage-no-kazura (日陰鬘). ImageImageImageImage
It's recorded that hikage-no-kazura was used originally to adorn the hair of the dancers that performed in the palace harvest celebrations in the 11th month.

4 or 5 unmarried women from noble families participated in the Gosechi Dances (五節舞).

Photos🙇‍♂️-omatsurijapan.com ImageImageImageImage
In Heian times the vines were substituted with silk braids & paper mulberry bark.
The dancers wore hikage-no-kazura in honour of Japan's first dancer Ame-no-Uzume (天宇受売命). The goddess (of dawn/mirth & the arts) wore the vine during her dance to lure Amaterasu from the cave. ImageImageImageImage
The closest major shrine to our office (at Camellia Garden teahouse) is Kitano Tenmangū (北野天満宮), so we headed over for hatsumōde (初詣 the 'first shrine visit').

Now that the New Year crowds have ebbed away, there is a lot more time to admire the fresh hana-chōzu (花手水). ImageImageImageImage
It is absolutely not New Year without hanabiramochi (葩餅), especially for practitioners of tea ceremony.
This year Nao-san is going for some kind of record...
...at the last count she'd eaten hanabiramochi from 6 stores.
And January is far from over😂

➡️ ImageImageImageImage
There are many auspicious symbols at this time of year🎍🐶🤣
Senbon Tamajuken (千本玉壽軒) utilize two for their 'matsu-no-yuki' (松の雪 'snowy pine') and 'hatsu-warai' (初笑 'the first laugh of the year').

This🧵is all about the use of pine at New Year⬇️
ImageImageImageImage
The kanji for laugh '笑' is made up of the characters for bamboo '竹' & dog '犬', & thus both images are used for luck. Dogs are also used as charms for an easy childbirth.

'笑' regularly appears on New Year decorations, inviting happiness into the home⬇️
ImageImageImageImage
Some of you may have seen images of small dogs with bamboo baskets (笊 'zaru') on their heads.
'Zaru-kaburi inu' (笊かぶり犬), often papier-mâché, are a play on words...
...if you break the character '笊' (like 笑) into its component parts it is literally bamboo on a dog (竹 犬). ImageImageImageImage
'Zaru' (笊) were commonly bought by parents or relatives around the same time a newborn was taken for their first shrine visit.
The baskets were hung by the baby's bed, a charm to let any sickness or troubles flow away just like water through a colander.
#Japan
Photo thanks to-
aucfan.com Image

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More from @camelliakyoto

13 Jan
🌳BONSAI BONANZA🤏
Kyōto hosts 2 major exhibitions of Bonsai each year at the Miyako Messe: the 'Nihon Bonsai Taikanten' (日本盆栽大観展) in Autumn, and the 'Gafūten Shōhin' (小品盆栽 雅風展) in January, which focuses on Bonsai so small they can be held in the palm of your hand. ImageImageImageImage
Some time during the Tang dynasty, 'penjing' (盆景), the Chinese tradition of creating miniature landscapes in a tray, arrived in Japan. Here the emphasis moved from creating entire scenes to focusing on individual trees, replicating full-grown specimens on a minute scale.
#Japan ImageImageImageImage
Penjing began to arrive in Japan from the 7thC, brought back from the mainland by returning embassy officials and Buddhist students, but the first appearance of (what we would recognize as) Bonsai in Japanese art is in the 1195 'Saigyō Monogatari emaki' (西行物語絵巻).
#bonsai ImageImageImageImage
Read 10 tweets
12 Jan
🎎2022🍵
It may be the freezing sleet & miserable weather, or it may be the flurry of guests cancelling their spring vacations (uncertain about the Japanese government's plans), but I'm feeling gloomy today😔

BUT...rather than wallow, let me show you around our small business🙇‍♂️ ImageImageImageImage
🌸OUR TWO TEAHOUSES🍁

🙇‍♂️Camellia Garden is across the road from Ryōan-ji (竜安寺), west Kyōto.
tea-kyoto.com/garden

🙇Camellia Flower is on Ninenzaka, close to Kōdai-ji (高台寺) & Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), east Kyōto.
Kimono rental is available here.
tea-kyoto.com/flower ImageImageImageImage
A shoutout to the wonderful guests that have managed to visit us over the last year, especially the lovely @stonecoldkilzer, @PaprikaGirl_JP, and @kimono_haxel🙇‍♂️🙏🍵💕

➡️tea-kyoto.com
#Japan #Kyoto #京都 #teaceremony #茶道 #CamelliaTeaCeremony #茶道体験カメリ ImageImageImageImage
Read 11 tweets
12 Jan
🎍SAYING GOODBYE TO THE NEW YEAR🤔

In many countries Christmas decorations are taken down on the 12th day of Christmas (January 6th), also known as Epiphany. To keep them up any longer is nowadays considered bad luck.
But what about Japan? Well, that depends where you live. ImageImageImageImage
In Japan the New Year holiday period is known as 'Matsu-no-uchi' (松の内).
From December 13th ('Shōgatsu-goto Hajime' 正月事始め) preparations for welcoming the New Year begin: pine decorations are cut/bought ('Matsu-mukae' 松迎え) & the house is cleaned ('Susu-harai' すす払い). ImageImageImageImage
When does the New Year period end?
Well, in eastern Japan it usually finishes on January 7th, but in western Japan it goes on until the 15th.
In 1662 the Shōgun fixed January 7th as the 'end' of the New Year...but this decree arrived late in the west, so they settled on the 15th.
Read 9 tweets
8 Oct 21
🐈FRIDAY FELINES AND REFRESHMENTS🍬

Golden hour at Ginkaku-ji's (銀閣寺) Kōgetsudai (向月台) and Ginshadan (銀沙灘), representations in white sand of (possibly) Mt. Fuji (富士山) and China's Lake Xi (西湖 'West Lake').

#Ginkakuji #銀閣寺 #Jishōji #慈照寺 #Kyoto #京都 #Japan
And what better sweets to enjoy with a trip to the 'Silver Pavilion' than Tawaraya Yoshitomi's (俵屋吉富) 'ginshadan' (銀沙灘).
Flavoured with hama-natto (浜納豆), the higashi (干菓子) have a sweet and salty taste that pairs perfectly with matcha🍵🙌

➡️@tawaraya_unryu
#matcha
The sand mound has a small depression at its summit to give it an even more Mt. Fuji-like appearance, and indicating that the garden was best viewed from the upper floor of the pavilion. White Shirakawa sand (白川砂) was chosen to best reflect the light of the full moon.
#Japan
Read 10 tweets
7 Oct 21
⛩️SEIMEI'S SHRINE⭐️
It may be small, and is perhaps not as attractive as other nearby shrines, but Seimei-jinja's (晴明神社) grounds are filled with interesting monuments and memorials to Abe-no-Seimei (安倍晴明 921-1005) and his mysterious life.
#Japan #Kyoto #晴明神社 #京都
1) SHIKIGAMI (式神)

Shikigami are somewhat unruly spirits summoned by onmyōji (陰陽師) to serve them. Invisible to almost everyone but the summoner, they would -for the most part- act like normal servants, performing household chores or secretarial duties.
#Japan #式神 #folklore
Fearsome in appearance, the shikigami's powers were connected to the strength of their master. Thus it is of no surprise that Seimei (安倍晴明) was said to have had 12 'shikijin' (式神), mostly performing simple tasks such as guarding his residence or opening gates.
#安倍晴明
Read 21 tweets
6 Oct 21
🪄ABE-NO-SEIMEI🦊
Abe-no-Seimei (安倍晴明 921-1005) is often thought of as the 'Merlin of Japan'.
Celebrated as Japan’s most successful onmyōji (陰陽師), Seimei served 6 emperors, & thanks to a prominent career and long (sickness free) life came to be viewed as a magical figure. ImageImageImageImage
Long after he had died, Seimei was the subject of countless stories and miraculous legends.

As an onmyōji (陰陽師) Seimei worked in the palace's onmyō-ryō (陰陽寮 'Bureau of Yin-Yang Divination'), responsible for geomantic and spiritual matters.
#folklorethursday #Japan #Kyoto ImageImageImageImage
Amongst his many tasks was onmyō (Yin-Yang divination), tenmon (天文-astronomy), koyomi (暦-calendar making), & rōkoku (漏刻-time keeping).

Seimei was charged with protecting the court by predicting future events, something he became so adept at that he was in constant demand. ImageImageImageImage
Read 16 tweets

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